Tony Moore in the equivalent seat to where he was sitting when the tram overturned (Image: Tom Matthews)

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A New Addington dad who survived Wednesday's tram disaster faced his fears this afternoon as he rode the tram for the first time since the tragic derailment which claimed the lives of seven passengers.

In an emotional interview with the Advertiser aboard the service between New Addington and Addington Village, Tony Moore said he believed his mum Doreen, who died six weeks before the tram crash, had been "looking down on him" when he changed his mind and sat in a different seat to the one he normally takes on his morning commute - a decision he thinks saved his life.

Tony, a dad of one who lives in Salcot Crescent, spoke of how he was glad the disaster had not happened an hour later - when the tram would have been full of dozens of children on the way to school.

He also said he was suffering from flashbacks of the horrific scenes inside the tram, which derailed on a sharp left-hand bend shortly before Sandilands tram stop just after 6am on Wednesday.

Tony, 49, who as well as commuting regularly rides the tram to Sandilands with his 11-year-old son Ciaran on the way to Crystal Palace home games, now wants answers, as soon as possible, about why the disaster happened.

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Suffering from flashbacks and visions, Tony said he had been looking at the trams in New Addington for the past couple of days before he summoned up the courage to step aboard this afternoon.

He told the Croydon Advertiser: "I was thinking I've got to do it [get on the tram], for my own benefit. I said to myself if I leave it, it will be a lot worse.

"I've had to do this, because it's playing up in my head, and I need to get on the tram.

"Riding it has helped, but the hardest thing is going to be going through Sandilands, going through that tunnel again. But I will conquer that."

On Wednesday, Tony got on the tram shortly before 6am, on his way to work as a leading hand for an engineering firm.

"The thing is, I normally sit in the middle of the tram. I lost my mum six weeks ago and when I came in, something told me not to sit in the middle, so when I got on I changed my mind and came over here," he said, speaking from a seat in the same position as the one he was in during the crash.

"And, I had this feeling 'don't sit there, sit here [pointing at his seat]'."

Friends and family have since told Tony that his life had been saved by his mother, who passed away after she was too unwell to undergo surgery at King's College Hospital in Denmark Hill.

"Everyone said it was my mum looking down on me on Wednesday, telling me to sit here, and not there, in the middle of the tram," he said.

"No one realises [how hard this is]. Losing your mum is hard, but to have this on top of it, is f****** harder. It's broken me.

"And, believe me, I'm a strong man, I'm really strong.

"I wanted to go back to work and my boss said no, it's too early, probably was, probably is.

"But I am going back to work next week. I don't know if it'll be on the tram, my boss has offered to have someone pick me up and drop me off."

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Tony said that he first noticed something might be wrong when the tram was travelling through the tunnel between Lloyd Park and Sandilands.

He said: "When we were going through that tunnel [before Sandilands], it was going too fast. I had my music on but you could feel the speed.

"And it happened in a split second, a split second. Just boom, boom, boom.

"There was a girl next to me, she went flying into the window. I went over, caught my leg on there [the pole next to the door] and then I managed to grab it and pull myself up.

"I've never witnessed things in my life that I saw [then]. Everyone was hysterical.

"I put my torch on, and I saw some bloke with his face, his skin hanging down it."

Mr Moore said he could tell from inside the tram that at least four people had died.

"I've just come out with a badly bruised leg, but some are dead," he said.

"The things I've seen, f***, I never [want to] see it again.

"No-one knows until you're there in one of those situations. You've got people screaming, shouting.

"I quietened one of the girls down, I gave her my phone as she lost her phone so she managed to ring her mum, she had claret blood coming down here [pointing to his head]. I think she's still in hospital.

"One of my mates who was sat right in front of me, he's done his arm in, he's got to have a major operation next week."

"It's just frightening, and you see the injuries that people suffered. It shouldn't have ever f****** happened. Why, why has it happened? I was just going to f****** work. Why? Seven people have died," he added, blinking back tears.

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Tony said it "felt like hours" as they were trapped in the tram, which had come to rest on its side next to the track.

He explained: "The fire brigade came, we couldn't get out. It felt like hours. I think it took the fire brigade about five minutes to smash through the front window. Then they came in and smashed the doors and we crawled out.

"Me and my mate Ross helped a lot of people get out and we came out.

"But yeah it was horrible, horrible, horrible."

As well as lending his phone to other passengers to let their loved ones know they were safe, Tony was able to call his wife Jane to let her know he was OK.

He said a triage station was set up in a tram at Sandilands where the wounded could be assessed by medics.

"I was walking wounded, so I went to Mayday [Croydon University Hospital]," he added.

"It was manic there, but they were good.

"I was alright, I just had a bruised leg. There were people with loads of cuts and worse, so they took priority."

Later that day Tony arrived home to see his son Ciaran.

"I actually said to my boy when I got home I'm glad it's happened at this time because an hour-and-a-half later, the tram would have been full of kids," he said.

"And you're talking 50 to 80, 100 kids. They all could have died through the impact."

Tony decided not to turn to drink to cope with the emotional trauma of what he had experienced, and said his wife was "proud of him" for going to see the doctor, who prescribed him some medication to help calm him down.

Not interested in compensation, Tony now just wants the truth of what caused the crash to come out as soon as possible.

"I've been getting this tram for 16 years now, as long as it's been running, the same tram," he said.